How to Find and Delete Similar Photos on iPhone

If your iPhone is filled with multiple versions of the same photo, you're not the only one. A quick photo session can easily turn into 10 or 20 nearly identical shots with different expressions, camera angles, lighting, or focus.

Apple's Photos app can help find duplicate photos and videos, but similar photos are a different problem. If you want to clean up those near-identical shots, you'll need to review them manually or use a dedicated photo-cleaning app.

Here's how to find and delete similar photos on your iPhone.

Exact Duplicates vs. Similar Photos

First, it's important to understand the difference.

Exact duplicates are copies of the same photo or video that exist more than once in your library. Apple's Photos app has a built-in Duplicates collection that can identify duplicate items and lets you merge them.

Similar photos are different files that look almost the same. For example:

• Five photos taken seconds apart
• Multiple shots of the same person or group
• Burst photos with slightly different frames
• Several versions of the same sunset or landscape
• Photos where the subject moved slightly
• Retakes with differences in focus, expression, or composition

These photos may not qualify as duplicates, but keeping dozens of them can still consume significant storage. If you're also dealing with exact duplicates and repeated contacts, our guide on how to remove duplicate photos and contacts on iPhone covers that side of cleanup in detail.

Why Apple's Duplicates Feature Doesn't Solve Everything

Apple introduced the Duplicates album with iOS 16. It automatically scans your photo library and places detected duplicate photos and videos in:

Photos > Collections > Utilities > Duplicates

However, duplicate detection and similar-photo cleanup aren't the same thing.

If you have several different shots of the same subject, you may still need to decide which one you actually want to keep.

There's also a waiting period for Apple's automatic duplicate detection. Your iPhone needs to index your photo library and search for duplicates, and this only happens while the phone is locked and connected to power. Depending on the size of your library, this can take anywhere from 24 hours to a few days to complete.

So if you're trying to clean up your library immediately, Apple's Duplicates collection may not be enough.

What Causes Similar Photo Clutter?

Similar photos usually accumulate naturally.

1. Burst Photos

Burst mode captures a sequence of images so you can choose the best moment later. The problem is that it's easy to forget about the remaining frames.

2. Retaking Photos

You might take five versions of the same group photo because someone blinked, moved, or looked away.

3. Live Photos

Live Photos capture additional motion around the still image. If you regularly take multiple shots of the same scene, your library can quickly grow.

4. Edited or Shared Copies

Photos saved from messaging apps, editing apps, social media, or other sources can create additional versions of images you already have.

Over time, these small additions can make your photo library much harder to manage and harder to find storage relief from. If your iPhone still feels full even after a cleanup pass, see our guide on why iPhone storage stays full after deleting photos.

And if it's videos rather than photos filling up your device, check out how to find large videos on iPhone to free up space faster.

How to Find and Delete Similar Photos Manually

If your library isn't too large, you can clean up similar photos directly in the Photos app.

Method 1: Review Burst Photos

• Open Photos.
• Go to Collections and find your burst photos.
• Open a burst sequence.
• Tap Select.
• Choose the frames you want to keep.
• Confirm your selection and remove the unwanted frames.

This works well for individual burst sequences, but it becomes time-consuming when you have hundreds or thousands of similar photos.

Method 2: Search by Date, Location or Subject

You can also use Photos search to narrow down your library.

• Search for a location, date, person, or subject and review the results for repeated shots. Apple's Photos app supports searching by dates, locations, people, and other attributes.
• Select unwanted photos and move them to Recently Deleted.

For a large library, however, manually comparing every similar image can take a considerable amount of time.

A Faster Way to Find Similar Photos

If you have a large photo library, a dedicated cleaning app can make the process easier.

Duplicate Cleaner by Softices can be used to scan your photo library for duplicate and similar photos, helping you identify groups of images that look alike and review them in one place.

Instead of scrolling through your entire library, you can use its photo-cleaning features to find potential clutter and decide which photos you want to remove.

How to Clean Similar Photos with Duplicate Cleaner

• Open Duplicate Cleaner on your iPhone.
• Start a scan of your photo library.
• Review groups of similar photos identified by the app.
• Select the photos you don't need.
• Delete them and reclaim the storage they were using.

The app processes your photo library on the device, so your photos don't need to be uploaded to a remote server for the scanning process.

Tip: Always review the selected photos before deleting them, especially when cleaning important family, travel, or event photos.

Manual Cleanup vs. Apple's Duplicates vs. Duplicate Cleaner

Feature	Manual Cleanup	Apple Photos	Duplicate Cleaner
Find exact duplicates	Yes	Yes	Yes
Find similar photos	Manual	Not the focus of Duplicates	Yes
Review photo groups	Manual	Yes for detected duplicates	Yes
On-demand scan	Yes	No (automatic indexing)	Yes
Best for large libraries	Time-consuming	Exact duplicate cleanup	Similar-photo cleanup
Processing	On-device	On-device	On-device

Apple's Duplicates feature remains useful for finding and merging duplicate items. When duplicates are merged, Apple keeps the highest-quality version and relevant data while moving the other items to Recently Deleted.

How to Keep Your iPhone Photo Library Clean

Once you've cleaned up your existing library, a few habits can prevent it from becoming cluttered again:

• Review burst photos regularly: Choose your favorite frame and remove unnecessary shots.
• Delete failed retakes: If a photo is blurry, poorly framed, or has unwanted expressions, remove it soon after taking it.
• Review messaging-app photos: Photos automatically saved from group chats can quickly add unnecessary copies to your library.
• Do a monthly cleanup: A quick monthly review can prevent thousands of unwanted photos from accumulating.

Clean Up Similar Photos on Your iPhone

Apple's built-in Duplicates feature is useful for finding duplicate photos and videos, but duplicate and similar photos are not the same problem.

If your library is filled with retakes, burst shots, and near-identical images, manually reviewing everything can take a lot of time.

With Duplicate Cleaner, you can scan your photo library, review groups of similar images, and remove the photos you no longer need, all from your iPhone.

Join over 2 lakh users who've already simplified their photo libraries.